The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1887-12-02
THIS SETTLES 1T.
The Coroner's Jury Decides That
There Was No Violence done
In The Dreger Case.

| me COrOner'S jury DeCiOeS ina
There Was No Violence done
In The Dreger Case.
AS mentioned yesterday, Sheriff b
Rogers, Coroner q. +. Merritt and DIR
Kilburn, one of the Insane Hospita
physicians, all of st. Peter, held an in
quest over the remains of Richard, the
three-year old son of Gottlieb Dreger, il
Belgrade Friday afternoon, at the ur
gent request of the parents Of the unfor
tunate boy. The body was disinterred
from the Lutheran cemetery, where II
was buried five weeks ago, and carried
across the Minnesota river and deposited
in the canning factory, where the inquest
was held. 1t was necessary to hold the
inquest i'm Nicollet county, in order to
comply with the law, the child's parents
having lived in Belgrade at the time OF
its death, which also occurred in Bel
grade. The family has since removed to
Mankato, where they now reside.
The following jury was impanelled:
}. b. Hodapp, J. f. Mans, X. X. Kueefe,
J. f. Kennedy, of Belgrade, and d. Gar
vim and NJ. Demsey, of st. Peter. Mr..
A. X. Pau was present as attorney for
MIR. and Mrs. Dreger. The following
witnesses were examined: Rev. r. F..
Schultze, the Lutheran minister, who Of
ficiated at the burial of the child, Mr..
Gottleib Dreger and Mrs. Augusta Dre-
ger, the child's parents, John Cece, the
man who found the remains, and DIR.
kilburn, who gave expert testimony.
The burthen of the testimony was as
follows: The child had wandered away
from home on Friday, Oct. 2lst, and al
though continuous search was made it
was not found until Sunday afternoon,
Oct. sd. When found it was lying on
its face near the river bank, about a half
mile from its home, the right arm
stretched out and the left drawn under
the body, and the hands not clinched as
though it had suffered pain, as from
poison. A little blood was found on the
cap and on the under lip, and the ting-
ers and ears had been slightly eaten by
some small animal, and the mark of a
tooth of an animal was visible on the
right wrist. The day was intensely cold
and the body, was frozen stiff. TWAS ly-
ing in the brush, and the child must
have gone through weeds and brush to
reach the place, still the clothes were
NJ form onl No bnrrc uara found IN
them. No bones had been broken, and
there was no sign of violence upon the
body of the child. A black and blue
streak appeared upon one side of the
face after the body had been placed in
coffin, though that might have been
caused by lying on the ground.
Dreger and his wife testified that
family named Nutzleman, neighbors of
theirs, were on very unfriendly terms
with them, and that Mrs. Nutzleman
bore hatred toward the child and had
to shoot it and Mrs. Dreger.
Last summer the Nutzlemans had whip
ped Mrs. Dreger and had been arrested
and fined in consequence, for which they
to get even with the Dregers.
Three weeks ago Nutzleman was put I'M
der bonds to keep the peace, on COM
plant of Dreger. These things and re-
marks dropped by Mrs. Nutlzeman since
the death of the child led the Dregers 10
believe that she had killed it. In a fit of
anger she had said that she had one of
the children and would have the other.
She was also away from home from Sat
urday afternoon until Sunday morning,
while the child was lost, and appeared
to be uneasy until it had been buried.
Many of the threats had been received
second handed, however.
The theory of the parents was that the
child had been kidnapped by Mrs. Nut
zleman and taken to the spot where it
was found, and there left to die of ex-
posture or from having been poisoned.
The testimony did not bear out the the
DRY of the poisoning, however. The facts
that the child would never before walk
in the brush, and that its clothes were
not torn or covered with hurrs might
give weight to the theory of the kidnap-
ping.
Several other witnesses were absent,
but as their evidence was simply corrob-
oratory of that already received, the jury
decided not to wait for them. 1t retired
and soon brought in a verdict that the
child had met its death from exposure.
The body was re-interred IN the Luther
an cemetery. The st. Peter officials are
confident that there was no murder COM
mitted. and there IS certainly little or no
evidence to disprove their opinion. The
parents had no such suspicion until after
the child had been buried, and their
present belief seems to be due to a fam
lily quarrel. The matter, however, is
likely to be heard of again soon.